Lighting systems may include a lighting load, an electrical ballast for controlling electrical power to the lighting load, and/or a ballast control device capable of sending instructions to the ballast for controlling the electrical power provided to the lighting load. Typically, after the lighting system is installed in a location, such as a residence, an office, or the like, the ballast control device may assign a link address to each ballast that it controls. The link address may be used for sending instructions to the ballast. This assignment may be done at random. For example, a ballast control device may be capable of controlling 64 ballasts and may randomly assign each ballast a link address (e.g., 1-64).
However, it is difficult to determine what ballast address was assigned to a ballast at a specific location. For example, a floor plan may indicate each ballast and its corresponding location in a room or building, and the ballast control device may have a list of the assigned link addresses. However, the installer, at the location of a particular ballast, cannot readily identify that particular ballast's address. Similarly, the installer, with a particular link address, cannot readily identify the corresponding location of the ballast with that link address.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art example used for determining a link address assigned to a ballast in a lighting system. As shown in FIG. 1, each of rooms 102, 104, and 106 may be in the same building and may be installed with one or more lighting loads. Rooms 102 and 104 may be on the same floor of the building, while rooms 102 and 106 may be on different floors. Each lighting load may be controlled via a ballast. Each ballast may be randomly assigned a unique identifier by the ballast control device 112 for sending instructions to the ballast for controlling the lighting load.
To determine the link address associated with each of the ballasts, a user 116 may select a link address that the user 116 wishes to identify at the computer 114 and the computer 114 may send instructions to the ballast to instruct the ballast that has been assigned the link address to flash its lighting load for identification. For example, the user 116 may select a unique identifier that has been assigned to ballast 110 and may send instructions which may cause the lighting load 108 that is controlled by ballast 110 to flash on and off.
As the ballast control device 112 may be capable of controlling up to at least 64 ballasts, and the ballast 110 may be installed in multiple rooms throughout a building, the user 116 may instruct the ballast 110 to identify itself via the lighting load 108, while user 118 searches multiple rooms (e.g., rooms 102, 104, and/or 108) throughout the building to find the flashing lighting load 108. Once the lighting load 108 is identified, the user 118 may communicate the ballast identity of the ballast 110 to the user 116 and the user 116 may associate the ballast identity (e.g., indicating the ballast location) with the selected link address. This association may be stored in the computer 114 such that the user 116 can properly identify the ballast 110 and configure the lighting system by sending instructions to the ballast 110 using the link address assigned to the ballast 110.
FIG. 2A depicts example prior art floor plan displays 202, 204, and 206 that may be used to identify the installed ballasts. The floor plan displays 202, 204, and 206 may be displayed on the computer 114 and/or may illustrate the layout of the ballasts in rooms 102, 104, and 106, respectively. A user 116 may instruct the ballast assigned a first link address Addr1 to identify itself. Using the floor plan displays 202, 204, and 206, the user 118 may identify the ballast 110 as corresponding to ballast B9 in the floor plan display 202. Once the ballast 110 is identified, the user 118 may communicate the identified ballast to user 116 and user 116 may associate the ballast 110 with link address Addr1 in an association table, such as the association table 210 shown in FIG. 2B for example. The association table 210 may then be used for looking up the link address associated with the ballast 110 when the lighting system is being configured.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the association table 210 may be included in a graphical user interface (GUI) 208 that may be displayed on the computer 114 and used to associate the installed ballasts with their link addresses. After the user 116 completes the association of the ballast 110 with its link address, the user 116 can flash the lighting load of the ballast associated with the next link address by selecting the button 212. The users 116 and 118 may perform the same process described above for each ballast in the lighting system. This process of address assignment may be time consuming and costly, particularly when the lighting system is installed in a large building having many different rooms controlled by one or more ballast control devices. In fact, this form of address identification may account for about 20% of a company's post-installation commissioning costs.